All the teams in Division 1 were in action last week, so 4 matches. On the Monday CN Emperors made the trip to the Morriston club to take on Morrison’s B team. Emperors had yet to win a match and the previous week had suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of De la Beche A. No such result this time, however. In spite of facing a team that contained a number of first team regulars the Emperors finally gained their first match points of the season with a 3-2 win.

Nidum kept up the pressure on White Knights A when a successful trip to Llanelli saw them defeat a strong White Knights B team, 3 points to 2 and for 24 hours they went to the top of the table. They did not stay there for long! On the Wednesday the interclub match between White Knights A and White Knights C ended in a whitewash for the C team and boosted White Knights A back into the lead. They are 1 match point and 3½ game points ahead of Nidum with their first head to head clash taking place on the 5th December.

Having drawn 3 and lost 2 Morriston A were still looking for their first win of the season when they faced De la Beche A at Sketty. They did not make it easy for themselves by turning up a player short but in spite of this they finally gained the win they were looking for; 3-2 in favour of Morriston. They are now, at last, sitting above their B team in the table but still well adrift of the leaders.

Four matches in the difficult to predict second Division. A strong De la Beche B team travelled the relatively short distance to Upper Killay where they outgunned a weaker Merlins side. Only a draw between Steve Edwards and Neil Stuart stopped the whitewash and the Sketty team went away the victors by 4½-½. De la Beche B stay top.

The following night De la Beche C, at home, did not fare so well against a Morriston C team that is now getting into its stride. Although neither side was at full strength the Morriston team eventually triumphed in a match that was presumably hard fought as there were no draws. The 3-2 win for the Morriston team means that they have now won 3 matches in a row and continue to breath down the necks of the leaders.

On the same night Morriston E travelled over to Briton Ferry to face their C team’s previous victims BF Giants. They were, however, faced with rejuvenated Giants and only a draw between Jonathan Davies and Joe Spooner saved the Morriston team from total annihilation. 4½-½ to the Giants.

On Friday Division 2 title contenders White Knights D stumbled in style against a nominally weaker Morriston D at Glais. Although they held their own with draws on the top two boards they came a cropper on the bottom three thanks to wins by Daniel Chung, Sean Denton and Neeraj Sharma. Daniel is the most improved player in the League with Sean the second most improved, so perhaps not the surprise it first appeared! The 4-1 win for Morriston D takes them into second place in the League a measly 1 point behind De la Beche B. Just 2 points separate the top five teams in this division so no real favourites at this stage.

The only match in Division 3 was between Morriston F and UK Harriers. Although Morriston were at home they were a player short and defaulted board 3. It proved costly as over the boards it was all square with 2 draws and a win apiece. The defaulted game, however, gave the Harriers the match (2-3) and the 2 match points ensured that they will go into the Christmas break in second spot.

30/11/2019